P.M. Edition for June 13. Iran sends dozens of ballistic missiles to Israel in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing attacks against Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership. WSJ White House reporter Alex Leary discusses what the escalating conflict in the Middle East may mean for President Trump, who has long said that the U.S. should pull back from foreign entanglements. Plus, we hear from Journal investing columnist Spencer Jakab about how markets are reacting to the conflict. And merchants like Walmart and Amazon are exploring launching their own stablecoins. WSJ reporter AnnaMaria Andriotis talks about why, and what impact that could have on banks. Alex Ossola hosts.
Early Friday local time, Israel finally did what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening to do for years: It launched a massive attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, killing top military commanders, nuclear scientists and — according to Iran — dozens of Iranian civilians.
The attacks have once again plunged the volatile region into uncharted waters.
NPR correspondent Hadeel al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv and NPR's National Security Correspondent Greg Myre discuss what this could mean for the region and for U.S. hopes of a deal limiting Iran's nuclear program.
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In a culture that increasingly downplays masculinity and the traditional family, Hanson calls for a reevaluation of fatherhood—not as an optional accessory, but as a cornerstone of moral courage, responsibility, and strength on today's episode of "Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words."
“ One of the roles of fathers is to give young children, especially males, a sense of direction. And almost this tragic sense that sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do, but somebody else won't do them, you're going to be in trouble.
“To the degree this country will make it, it will be a strong father figure that instructs us how to be masculine. How to be a man. How to protect the weak. How to stand forward and challenge bullies, that prey on the weak and the innocent. And that's a lost art now.
👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com
Plus: Energy companies rally while shares of airline companies fall. Auto stocks also drop after President Trump says he might raise tariffs on car imports. Ariana Aspuru hosts.
Tempers flare as Governor Pritzker joins two Democratic Governors in testimony before the House Oversight Committee. Chicago leaders brace for massive “No Kings” protest as President Trump threatens to send military troops to quell protests in Democratic cities. Reset goes behind those headlines and more in our Weekly News Recap. This week’s panelists include AXIOS Chicago reporter Carrie Shepherd, Chicago Tribune immigration reporter Laura Rodríguez Presa and Chicago Sun-Times reporter covering government and politics Mitchell Armentrout.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Israel pulled off a historic strike on Iran. As I record these lines, Iran is reporting a “massive explosion” in Isfahan, in a province that is home to several nuclear facilities. In Israel, where Shabbat has begun, the government has ordered all synagogues to shut down—and for citizens to remain close to bomb shelters as they brace for a retaliatory strike.
It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this operation. Israel has taken out much of Iran’s military leadership and some of its top nuclear scientists and hit nuclear facilities across the country. And it is still going. Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do whatever it takes in order to prevent a nuclear holocaust.
Meanwhile, the X account for Iran’s military has threatened that “our response will be lethal.” And the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has tweeted: “The Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see.”
Donald Trump, for his part, is using this as an opening to push Iran into a nuclear deal. This is a historic juncture for the region—not just for the state of Israel, but for the West.
So last night, just as the news of these attacks broke, I sat down with former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett to discuss all of it: the strikes, what they accomplished, how Israel defied conventional wisdom and seemed to pull off the impossible, what we can expect in the days ahead, and—perhaps most importantly to many of our listeners—whether or not America is supporting Israel in its efforts.
Was there ever a time when life on earth was peaceful? Free of violence? No predators, no prey, just... vibes? Or has nature always been 'Red in Tooth and Claw'?
Have we always been eating each other?
Our listener Scott sent us on a quest to discover the origins of predators and prey, and to find out what all this ‘eat or be eaten’ stuff is really about.
Taking us back to the very dawn of life on earth, Professor Susannah Porter from the University of Santa Barbara lets Alex peer into an extraordinary world of microscopic warfare. It’s a dog-eat-dog (or, microbe-dissolve-microbe) world, with single celled organisms doing battle with each other. For billions of years, this was life on earth! Tiny, violent, and completely fascinating.
But what about bigger creatures? More complex ones - animals? Speeding forward several billion years, Alex arrives in the Ediacaran Period – a time of unusual tranquility, where strange, plant-like animals lived in relative peace. At the Natural History Museum in Oxford, UK, palaeontologist Dr Frankie Dunn shows him around.
So where did real predators come from, then? Alex is joined by Dr Imran Rahman as he ushers in one of the most extraordinary periods in Earth’s history – the magnificently named Cambrian Explosion! Here we find real predators, with teeth, claws, and impressive hunting appendages. Through the fossil record, we can see an arms race developing – as predators get more sophisticated, so does their prey. It’s ON.
Finally, Alex wonders if our own evolution, shaped as it has been by this predator-prey arms race, might have been very different without the threat of being chomped. Professor Lynne Isbell from the University of California, Davis takes Alex on a trip into our primate past, and tackles one of our most fearsome predators: snakes.
Presenter: Alex Lathbridge
Producer: Emily Knight
Series Producer: Ben Motley
On Saturday, Trump would like nothing more than images from Los Angeles of tear gas and balaclava-clad anarchists throwing bottles at Marines to complement video of himself in the stands at his military parade, saluting the troops amid a field of flags. That's part of the reason why he chose LA to federalize the Guard—home to numerous adversaries who willingly take his bait. And while tanks are going to roll through DC, wrecking its streets for the big birthday boy, Israel is going after Iran like it went after Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem handled the Padilla incident like a little fascist, and it only just occurred to Trump how the deportations will affect farms and hotels. Plus, a "Les Miz" correction, a 'Godfather' goof, and fighting words over The Beach Boys v. Lou Reed.
Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod. show notes
